A little late, but we finally wrap up the coverage of our fifth custom contest, which had “Europe” as a theme, with the Radical class, which allows any and all modifications to a custom, unlimited cutting, blending of two castings, swapping parts from other cars, fabrication, anything. This class really brings to the front the creativity and resources of the customizer, but of course, always sticking to the theme of the contest.

As stated in ourrulebook, every class was judged under the principle that the participating customs had to stick to the contest’s theme. Having said that, we leave you with the entries for this class and their customizers. Down bellow you’ll find the winners of the first three places, with a small photoshoot of each, as well as commentary from our judges regarding why they won.

Judges comment: Ahmed’s Citroën DS was one of the better achieved customs of the entire contest due to how it absolutely nails a land speed racing car. A Citroën made for LSR might sound crazy, but the fluid, aerodynamic form of these frenchies make them prime candidates for this motorsport discipline. And the blown-V8 conversion, the parachute and the caged interior are all classic elements of a salt flats car, even one as unorthodox as a Citroën, because in the end there is no motorsport more American than land speed racing… well, maybe drag racing. Besides, the work done to this custom is excellently executed and, even if the modifications are relatively simple, they stick perfectly to the concept of the car. This was the main reason why it nailed third place, it would have had a chance to win, but competition was too strong, with customs with a lot more work, but just as well conceptualized.

Judges comment: RomHer’s Citroën has a concept that’s a bit difficult to swallow. ¿A rat rod Dyane? That’s about as far as what anyone looking to modify one would think about doing. But it works, and works great! The excellent paint job simulating rust and patina, the side dump-can exhaust tips, the grotesque, way-out-of-proportion rolling stock, the surfboard and associated travel stuff put in there just because, and of course the lack of fenders, all of this elements of the very controversial rat rod culture of today, have been excellently applied to the Citroën. And that is precisely why this car shines, because it transports in a very coherent form all of these elements to a car that is absolutely alien to the trend. And you can’t say anything about its execution, as it’s an excellently achieved custom, proof that RomHer hasn’t forgotten about his specialty.

Judges comment: In this class we saw several customs with a lot of cutting and adapting work, but the transformation that José showed us on the Hot Wheels E36 BMW M3 casting was by far the best, because the job was just so clean that it looked like it was a regular model that existed in HW’s mainline, with just a refinish and a wheel swap. Of course, there is no Touring M3 casting, José fabricated it adapting the roof from a Datsun 510 Wagon which, after a bit –or a lot- of trimming and finessing, finally fit to the ten. And even if the proportions are a bit strange, that could be attributed to the base casting, which isn’t exactly well achieved, so the conversion doesn’t look strange because of the work performed. A very low stance and BBS-style wheels give this custom a definite show-car look. The enormous and perfectly done work in this custom is relatively subtle, which is always something difficult to achieve when you’re trying to make a model that doesn’t exist, and José pulled it off brilliantly, with a good enough result to nab first place from other entries with a much more complex concept.